Singapore's PSA Investments today bagged Rs 7,915 crore and 4.8 million standard units fourth container terminal project from India's largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Interestingly, the same entity had earlier clinched the bid for the project in association with ABG Shipyards, only to back out later citing differences with its partner and had to pay a fine of Rs 67 crore for the move.
This had led to a delay of over two years for the project, which will catapult the port located off the city coast to among the largest in the world.
The board of trustees of the port has decided to award the project to be carried out under the design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis to PSA, which was the highest bidder.
PSA's offer of a 35.79 per cent revenue share was ahead of the 29 per cent offered by Adani Port & SEZ, JNPT Chairman N N Kumar told PTI.
Others who had shown interest in the project had included APM Terminals, Sterlite Ports, United Liner Agencies and International Container Terminal Services.
The terminal development involves developing a 2,000 metres berth and will add a capacity of 4.8 million TEUs of container handling. The project has to be completed in a span of maximum six years in two phases, he said.
"The party has to come back to us in one month to sign the concession agreement to build the project, after which they will be given a four month time for financial closure.
The construction work will begin only after that," Kumar said.
It can be noted that last time, the consortium of PSA and ABG had bid very aggressively and offered a revenue share of 50.80 per cent to the government for the same project.
The JNPT currently has three terminals, of which it runs only one while two others are run by private operators. It handles over half of the container traffic in the country, even though newer ports are increasingly challenging its dominance.
